BACK in the winter game and at the start of the summer era, rugby league clubs famously had ‘B’ sides as well as amateur teams in a bid to ensure a strong pathway through to the first-team.
Such teams also allowed those players not getting picked for the first-team to get important game time to make sure they were ready when and if they were called upon.
In recent years, the reserves competition has either been non-existent or a bit of a farce with clubs only playing games every other week and even then some are cancelled.
There are still amateur set-ups at top-flight clubs as well as scholarship level, but where do players go when they are no longer ‘of age’ to play in the youthful sides?
That’s where the reserve grade comes in, but, unfortunately, little emphasis has been placed upon the competition with clubs preferring to send their players out on loan or on dual-registration.
To add salt into the wounds, those reserves players that may well have been given a game have had to miss out due to cancelled fixtures.
That is true of Huddersfield Giants reserves against the Leigh Leopards this weekend with the fixture cancelled at the request of the Leopards, according to the Giants’ website.
The game was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday 13th May, 12:00pm at Laund Hill, but will no longer be taking place.
The reserves competition either needs to be backed completely or scrapped once more in favour of loan and dual-registration agreements – the current issue is not helping anyone.
